PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release
Contact: Stephen Carlson
514-631-3336 ext 2240
scarlson@gsi.ca
New Strategic Alliance Offers U.S. Retailers
A Full-Featured SaaS Solution
MONTREAL, PQ / LEOMINSTER, MA (December 18, 2009) - A strategic alliance has been formed to end the IT headaches for mid-to-larger U.S. retailers by offering a robust enterprise retail management solution in the increasingly popular “software as a service (SaaS)” business model. Concurrent with Gemmar Systems International’s (GSI) announced availability of Retail-1® SaaS was the joint announcement of a strategic alliance with J.D. Associates to market its "software as a service" solution to a growing base of retailers. By offering GSI’s Retail-1® retail management software as a service, retailers eliminate server software and hardware and the increasingly complex task of IT management.
"When you can combine our solid business foundation with our experience supporting remote hosting and real-time networks, offering Retail-1® as a service is a natural evolution for our company and our clients," said GSI President Peter Mitelman. For more than 25 years, Montreal based GSI has provided robust retail management software solutions. The firm currently serves more than 200 specialty retail chains in North America.
Concurrent to the Retail-1® SaaS rollout, GSI and J.D. Associates based in Leominster, MA announced a strategic alliance to market GSI’s Retail-1® SaaS retail management solution to its customer base in the U.S. J.D. Associates, with its twenty-year track record providing retail technology solutions, serves over 500 retailers.
"With GSI’s Retail-1® Retail Management Software as a Service (SaaS), we can now offer the best of retail business intelligence and planning, to successful retailers who are not interested in becoming IT professionals. We are extremely excited about partnering with GSI on this ground-breaking offer," said Don Capman, President of J.D. Associates. Mr. Mitelman added, "We look forward to working with Don and his team. They are a well-respected player in the U.S. and Retail-1® will complement their current offering, specifically with mid-to-larger chains, which is where we shine."
Several major benefits are expected for customers transitioning from an "on premise" solution to the Retail-1 SaaS offering, according to Mitelman.
- No Capital Costs / Eliminate IT Headaches: "No servers, no licensing costs, no IT expertise required. With Retail-1® SaaS, IT headaches are eliminated. We understand our technology and the infrastructure required for the software to perform optimally," said Mitelman.
- Faster and Better Return on Investment: "The impact of quick start-up should not be underestimated," he said. "Retail-1® SaaS deployments remove the waiting game for hardware, thereby allowing Retail-1® to come online more quickly and generate faster and greater returns."
- Automatic Upgrade: "Eliminate your resource drain for upgrades, updates or patches. With Retail-1® SaaS, you are always kept on the latest version of the software and benefit from all releases immediately," Mitelman said.
- High Level of Scalability: "As you grow your business with new store openings and expanded use of technology, you no longer face the issue of server upgrades. With Retail-1® SaaS, you simply extend services to more locations," he said.
- No Long-Term "Lock-In": " With Retail-1® SaaS, you have flexibility to buy only what you need, when you need it. If you are not fully satisfied that we deliver as promised, you can disengage at anytime," said Mitelman.
- You Focus on Retail - We Focus on IT: "By eliminating the IT headaches and providing full featured retail management solutions, you can focus on maximizing your opportunities in today’s challenging retail environment," remarked Mitelman.
"Unlike our competitors, Retail-1® SaaS is not a "cut down" version or "subset" of GSI’s Retail-1® offering. It is a full-featured software suite containing all the capabilities and features of the current version deployed to customers," said Ian Holland, Vice President of Development for GSI. "Our investment to implement a service-oriented architecture (SOA) within the Retail-1® structure made the move to a service offering much easier,” he said.
Retail-1® SaaS head office applications range from the Retail-1® core merchandise management functions to the latest business intelligence application, Retail-1® Red Line, designed to more effectively manage markdowns. The store operations offerings include point-of-sale, store inventory, employee and sales operations as well as our latest web-based sales productivity enhancement, Retail-1® Store Watch.
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